stroke in thalamus

My daughter had a stroke in her thalamus at age 17 and is still having headaches 2 years later... every day... any ideas for treatment or diagnosis??? Her doctor says that it is migraines and the two are not related. It seems like too much of a coincidence to me. Can a stroke cause persistent headaches and what is the treatment????

I also had a stroke 16 months ago located in the brain stem/ left thalamus and have recurrent headaches probably two a week, sometimes very dibilitating. I have yet to find anything to help..but of course my doctor doesnt seem to find interest in what type of headach it is... Did you have any luck? Im a curious

My daughter also had a stroke in her thalamus (bilateral) at age 17. She is now 28 years old and still suffers from depression, chronic fatigue and headaches related somewhat to her menstrual cycle. Doctors are reluctant to give her migraine meds because of her stroke. I would be interested in talking with you more about this.

My daughter has been seen by dentists, oral surgeons, counselors, ENT specialists, allergists and many neurologists. She has had CT scans, MRI's, x-rays of her jaw, dental procedures to change her bite, surgery to remove nasal polyps, and every possible allergy test. She has done bio-feedback. She wears a day guard and a night guard on her teeth. Nothing that they have tried has stopped her headaches. Her latest neurologist has said that for some stroke patients, headaches are a permanant reality for them. She has been on every medicine possible for headache treatment and nothing has worked. For a while she was taking narcotics every day for the pain but all they did was put her to sleep. She decided to stay awake and in pain rather than spend the rest of her life asleep. Her current neurologists has said that if he can't find a way to help her within six months, he will write her a referral to the Mayo clinic or Shands teaching hospital. Then our insurance company will have to cover it. The saga conyinues...

My daughter has been seen by dentists, oral surgeons, counselors, ENT specialists, allergists and many neurologists. She has had CT scans, MRI's, x-rays of her jaw, dental procedures to change her bite, surgery to remove nasal polyps, and every possible allergy test. She has done bio-feedback. She wears a day guard and a night guard on her teeth. Nothing that they have tried has stopped her headaches. Her latest neurologist has said that for some stroke patients, headaches are a permanant reality for them. She has been on every medicine possible for headache treatment and nothing has worked. For a while she was taking narcotics every day for the pain but all they did was put her to sleep. She decided to stay awake and in pain rather than spend the rest of her life asleep. Her current neurologists has said that if he can't find a way to help her within six months, he will write her a referral to the Mayo clinic or Shands teaching hospital. Then our insurance company will have to cover it. The saga continues...

My son was injured while playing football when he was 14, he is now 20. He had a devastating hit where his head snapped back. Three days later he began having episodes where he says it feels as if someone is shocking him. These episodes start in his neck (right side) and goes all the way down to his foot. These episodes last 35 minutes to an hour. At the time of the initial injury he was diagnosed with a dissected vertebral artery. At that time they told us the artery would heal but the episodes of shock like pain never did go away completely. He can go months where he has no symptoms but then it all starts back up again. We actually, today, just got home from the University of Chicago where they diagnosed him as having had a small mini stroke at the time of the injury because they can see a small spot on his thalamus. So now have diagnosed him with Thalamic pain syndrome. They have now prescribed Lyrica for him in hopes that will alleviate the "shocking" sensations that he has. I know what you mean. . .the saga continues for us as well.

There is a rare phenomenon called "Thalamic syndrome". In case of a stroke affecting the thalamus, the patient will develop some kind of sensory disturbance with possible minor functional problems on the opposite side of the body that will recover over time. In some cases, even though the recovery might be nearly complete, the pain syndrome begins to develop. It will start as a vague uncomfortable sensation (stinging of the skin) that could be felt on one half of the body and the face (opposite side also). this pain might then progress to true pain of headache and hyoersesitivity to any stimulus on the skin that could be felt as pain.
My question to you all, when your son/daughter has this headache, are the upper or lower limbs or both or the trunk involved in this pain? The thing is that if the pain in the limbs is not due to other conditions such as arthritis, that would further support the thalamic syndrome diagnosis. The best treatment would be to use some combinations of medications to relief the symptoms. This type of pain (thalamic pain), the Doctors may characterize the pain as psychological or psychosomatic in nature, so it is very important that the patient try to deal with this pain and live with it without causing any psychological problems like depression..
If you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask .

Hi, just wanted to throw my 2 cents in. I had a stroke to my thalamus when I was 29. This was due to me having a PFO, hole in the heart, and just having a baby, 6 weeks after c-section.So they think I had a stroke b/c I have a PFO, and a little thing called Factor V leiden, which means thick blood, which led to me having a stroke at such a young age. I was plagued with migraines forever, before the stroke, after I hardly ever have them now.Id get my heart checked, and have them run that test for factor V, just to be safe.You never know....

For those who still have stroke headaches,
You can try taking vitamin B-2 and the mineral Magnesium go with 100% RDA with each that is about 400 IU. The B-2 is water soluble that means you won't OD on it the magnesium I don't know if it's the same.
I suffered a stroke 7 years ago and this helped me with my stroke headaches also try eating a bannana they have helped me too with the headaches.

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